Mobilegeddon: Googles New Algorithm

“Mobilegeddon”, Google’s new algorithm.

There is a not so secret, secret algorithm that decides how your website ranks on a google search. The new Armageddon world ending search algorithm is all mobile device optimize, it is Mobilegeddon. It sounds scary and it really kinda is scary. Mobilegeddon is targeting every single website out there, your website included. This is one of the times Google hasn’t been overly secretive about it and they have honestly been letting us know for a while this was something coming. They have been trying new algorithms that do different things to give the mobile device user a better experience, but recently they have been losing money to adword campaigns because non optimized sites are ranking on mobile devices, and mobile users don’t click on them. If users don’t click, Google doesn’t get paid. Hence a preference for the majority, and that majority is mobile devices.

Mobilegeddon, defined:

Mobilegeddon is the act of dropping site rankings on mobile device google searches based on if a website is optimized for mobile devices. There is an easy way to see if your site is optimized, go here, and after you see if you pass the test mark three things. 1- Do you pass yes or no, 2- does your site appeal to your eyes? yes or no 3- is your site using a plugin or is it true responsiveness? yes or no. We will use www.arnnetworks.com and answer these three questions. 1- yes 2- no (I own the site and I am not incredibly pleased with how it looks mobile, we are in the process of redesigning it) 3-no. (but it is in the works now). If you don’t answer yes to all three of these you need to take action. April 21st (tomorrow) is the day of mobilegeddon, if you are just reading this it is too late to completely avoid the mobilegeddon if you answer to #1 was no. But there are quick ways to not fall too far behind. This being a do it yourself blog, I will tell you the things you need to do to fix these issues, depending on the yes or no answers to our questions. If you don’t pass the mobile friendly test you will fall victim to Mobilegeddon tomorrow, how do you return from that? I shall tell you below.

If you answered no after you plugged your website into the Mobile Friendly Test website then tomorrow your site will no longer rank on mobile searches. This is bad, this is Mobilegeddon, but fear not there are solutions. If you use the most common language for your website, WordPress, then you can put a band aid over Mobilegeddon. If you use a language other than WordPress then you may still have a plugin option, you will need to check with your web developer. Those who use WordPress, like Schrock Interactive builds, have the plugin option. This is a quick and easy software package you can download and install on your WordPress site to make your site mobile optimized, and avoid the Mobilegeddon. You can pick a WordPress plugin from any number of places, we like these option click here. Since this is a D.I.Y., we assume you want to do this yourself. It isn’t particularly hard, but it does have some step by step instructions you will need to follow. Maybe another D.I.Y. can be how to install these. If you can’t do it, contact your webmaster, if they charge too much contact Schrock Interactive, we will do it for $400, a one time fee. Follow this link to contact us now. Remember this fix you just did was a band aid, a quick fix, a way to avoid the right now problem of Mobilegeddon. What is next?

Mobilegeddon, I have the plugin, but my site doesn’t appeal to my eye.

Well we went to the Google mobile friendly test site, and it said YES your site is mobile optimized like this.

The screen you get when testing if your site is mobile friendly on Google’s test website. YES we avoid Mobilegeddon

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(or you went and it said no so you followed my instructions on obtaining the band aid plugin fix and now it says yes). So we answer question 1 with a yes, and move on to question 2. Does my site appeal to my eye? If you answer no, and if you are using a mobile plugin to avoid mobilegeddon then your answer should probably be no if we are being honest. ARN Networks looks like this on a mobile plugin,

www.arnnetworks.com Mobile Site View, avoided Mobilegeddon but not overly pleased with the look

Does it avoid Mobilegeddon, yes, does it appeal to our eyes, not really. So we are now working on making our site responsive. If your site isn’t appealing to your eye, it is 100% not appealing to anyone else. The plugin option saves your search ranking, and keeps some people from leaving your site automatically, but in if they are using a device that is any bigger than iPhone 6 like an iPad mini, or Nexus tablet, or Schrock Modular Tablet, then its is overly big bulky and ugly. So if your site isn’t appealing to your eye then we probably already know the answer to the third question….

Mobilegeddon, is my site responsive?

Is your site responsive, or using the plugin, its easy to answer. Open your site on your desktop, now left click on the border of your browser window and drag the sides close to each other, as the size of the window gets smaller then you should see the site automatically start changing to match the size of the window. If it does this your site is responsive. It is more expensive to build sites this way, and a lot of people ignored their web developer when the web developer recommended it, now its vital. Unfortuantely for us D.I.Y types this is not the typical thing you can just do yourself, unless you happen to be a web design guru. Your site will have to be redesigned for each possible screen size and then the C.S.S. will have to be coded to know what screen it is on, and adjust. Contact your webmaster, see what they will charge you, it can be expensive. If you have a WordPress site, or already had Schrock Interactive make your site we are running a special, $250 off a responsive upgrade. So no changes to your site, except that it is now responsive. We can do any site that is WordPress with little to no issue, and we don’t have to host it. Contact us now and we will get back to you right away.

Mobilegeddon, the beginning of a new age:

So now we have identified the issue, Mobilegeddon is happening all around you, and we know how to stop it. Once you have decided on a course of action, it is imperative you take action now. You are dropping in mobile searches right this very second, if not being completely de-ranked due to not having any sort of mobile optimization. If you pay for SEO or SEM and your guys haven’t called you or been on you about this for months, it is time to switch and come over to Schrock Interactive. We offer more than competitive SEO and SEM packages and we have been telling our customers for months, it is almost as if we had been channeling Nostradamus himself if you will, and now Mobilegeddon has happened, the only question left is how will your business and your website weather the ever changing landscape that is the ranking wars.